Tiger Facts

A Tiger is a powerful carnivore, a hunter with sharp teeth, strong jaws, and a very agile body. They are the largest naturally occurring species of cat, of which the Siberian tiger is the largest, weighing up to 800 pounds and measuring up to 11 feet head to tail. Find out more about this remarkable endangered species in the fact file below.

Tigers do not actually live in Africa, they live in Asia. Tigers are an endangered species because their habitat is disappearing.

The closest relative to the tiger is a lion.

Tigers can live to 20 years of age in zoos but only 15 years in the wild. Most wild tigers do not live that long. Only half of all cubs survive to independence from their mother at about two years of age. Only 40 percent of these survivors live to establish a territory and begin to produce young.

Tigers are great swimmers. The roar of a tiger can be heard over a mile away.

Tigers are the largest naturally occurring species of cat. Siberian tigers are the largest of the nine species. Tigers can weigh up to 800 pounds and measure 11 feet from head to tail.

Most tigers have more than 100 stripes. Their stripes are much like a fingerprint, because no two tigers are exactly alike. Their coat is also perfect for camouflage.

One averaged sized tiger can eat up to 60 pounds of meat at a single time. It is the largest land-living mammal whose diet consists mainly of meat… tigers require large areas with forest cover, water, and prey such as deer and swine. The tiger hunts alone, primarily between dusk and dawn, traveling six to 20 miles in a night in search of prey.

A tiger’s canine teeth can grow up to three inches long and are easily capable of crunching through the spine of any creature on Earth.

Tigers are highly ferocious and unlike the laid back male lion, it’s never wise to turn your back to a tiger even in captivity.

A tiger’s saliva is antiseptic, and comes handy when a tiger cleans its wounds.

Tigers are largely solitary cats and are most active between dusk and dawn, except for a mother and her cubs, tigers live and hunt alone. Male and female meet only briefly to mate. After a gestation of 100 to 112 days, two to three blind and helpless cubs are born.

Tiger cubs weigh just over two pounds at birth and nurse until they are six months old. During the next 18 months, they gradually become independent, and at about two years of age strike out alone to find their own territory. Females may establish a territory adjacent to that of their mother, or even take over part of their mother’s territory. Adult females generally produce a litter every two years.